Hong Kong police arrest 60 suspects in 44 deception cases involving HK$75 million in two-week operation
- Suspects include alleged syndicate members who are accused of conspiring to obtain HK$6 million bank loan under government pandemic relief scheme
- Five others were detained for duping woman out of HK$5.3 million in investment scam
Hong Kong police have rounded up 60 people in connection with 44 cases of deception involving financial losses of HK$75 million (US$9.5 million) during a two-week anti-fraud operation.
The suspects included five alleged members of a fraud syndicate who were accused of conspiring to obtain HK$6 million in a fraudulent bank loan under a government-backed pandemic relief scheme to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Detectives from the Mong Kok district crime squad began investigating the gang after receiving an anonymous complaint early this year.
According to the force, the syndicate allegedly used a construction company to apply for a bank loan with forged documents in September under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme.
“We suspect the syndicate first collected personnel information through different channels and used the details to impersonate the company’s employees,” Inspector Wong Kin-hei of the Mong Kok district crime squad said on Monday.